HAVERFORD, PA – The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins men's cross country team placed three runners in the top five and seven in the top 12 as the Blue Jays won their third Centennial Conference title at Haverford Saturday afternoon as they edged the host Fords by three points.
 
Johns Hopkins finished with 33 points to nip the Fords, who grabbed the runner-up spot with 36 points. This is the second-closest finish in league championship history.  Only the 2018 championship, which saw Haverford edge Johns Hopkins by one point (34-35), has been closer.
 
Haverford's Ryan Kredell won the individual title as he crossed in 24:36.4, but the Blue Jays grabbed the next two spots with Matthew Kleiman (24:43.7) and Gavin McElhennon (24:44.2) coming home in a virtual dead heat.  Freshman Emmanuel Leblond rounded out Hopkins' top five finishers as he placed fifth in 24:51.6.
 
The back-and-forth between the Blue Jays and Fords continued over the next seven finishers before things were settled.  The Fords grabbed the sixth, seventh and ninth spots in the standings and needed just one more finisher before the Blue Jays' next two crossed to win the team title, but Daniel Chen and Sean Enright placed 12^th and 13^th, respectively, with times of 25:07.5 and 25:08.5 to lock down the third title in program history.
 
Chen and Enright's late kick helped them edge Haverford's Peter Buckley, who placed 13^th less than two seconds behind Enright.  If Buckley had taken them at the line, the Fords would have won the team title.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, November 12 when the Blue Jays travel to Loch Haven, Pennsylvania to participate in the NCAA Regional Championships.